History, technology, and probably some other stuff

Using STEM in the Social Studies: Taking action

by glennw on March 5, 2018

Scott Noet and Kim Gilman (my good buddy from Shawnee, Kansas) met as Goethe TOP Fellows several years ago. And now they’re partnering up to share some of their best ideas about how to move students from analysis to action using STEM activities.

Kim says that we spend a ton of time focusing on helping kids to perfect their analysis skills. Nothing wrong with that. But we can’t forget that we also need to be helping kids take action – to actually using their analysis skills to make the world a better place.

I especially love a couple of things they shared:

Nature Deficit Disorder – we need to find ways to get kids interacting with nature

They added a fourth R – refuse – to the traditional of recycle, reduce, reuse:
refuse

As in, we can make intentional choices about what we use and don’t use. I especially like the idea of choosing to not use straws. I never really gave it that much thought but it seems like a powerful but simple way to take action:

Get all of their resources and presentation at this shared Google Folder:goo.gl/Mh4PyM

What a great way to integrate action civics and civic engagement into what we do.

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Glenn Wiebe
social studies nerd, consultant, tech guy

Thanks for dropping by! As a curriculum consultant for ESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, History Tech is my chance to rattle on about social studies and technology. Feel free to poke around.

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